


A Trained Professional

by cinnamon_skull



Category: Jurassic World (2015), Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Humor, Dinosaurs, Eventual Smut, Jurassic Park Crossover, M/M, Raptor Training, Raptors, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:42:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_skull/pseuds/cinnamon_skull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ode to Jurassic Park (and raptors… and ereri). Using ereriweek day six prompt “storm” as an excuse to write the Jurassic Park AU I always wanted. Action/Adventure/Romance/RAWR. </p><p>In which Eren is a raptor trainer, Levi watches, and big guns are loaded.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Clever

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my (not small) obsession with Jurassic Park and ereri. Two favorite things in one universe. What could go wrong?

“I’m telling you Hange, I think we’re putting ourselves in a bad situation if we continue,” Levi said, turning to watch lightning crack across the sky.

The thick layer of mud coating the ground turned a blinding silver for a moment, as lightning whitewashed the tire marks and weedy clumps of grass until Levi was forced to shut his eyes.

It was pouring, black clouds gathering low and thick at the edge of the mountains surrounding them on either side. The electric fence behind them hummed, loud even over the sound of thick raindrops pounding the earth.

“I think you’re overreacting,” Hange replied. They were stationed under a low hanging tarp, which pulled and rocked against a high wind. Hange was busy logging notes into some kind of electronic device and not paying much attention to the torrential downpour around them. “There hasn’t been an episode in over five years.”

Levi scoffed, pulling a pair of black leather gloves from his pocket and slipping them on. “That was before Erwin invited those fucking cowboys here.”

He made a fist with his hands, listening to the sound the leather made as he squeezed tightly.

“Erwin knows what he’s doing Levi,” Hange muttered, folding back the antenna of their device and placing it into a fold in their jacket. They turned their face towards him so that he could see their sly look. “Besides, you like one of those cowboys.”

Levi ignored Hange, instead pulling out a long-range walkie-talkie. “Z team do you copy?”

There was a crackle of static before a familiar voice responded. “This is Mike. What’s your ETA?”

Levi looked over at Hange, who had crouched down on the ground to scoop mud samples into a plastic tube. “Fifteen minutes,” Levi mumbled. “Over.”

“Copy,” Mike said through the radio.“Your ride leaves in t-minus fourteen minutes.”

Levi tucked the radio into his vest and ran a finger over his rifle strap, tugging it down so that he could rest the gun in his hands. The metal felt cool and comforting in his grip. “Did you hear that? You have fourteen minutes or I’m leaving your ass out here for dinner.”

He swung the rifle up and cradled the stock against his shoulder, looking through the scope to study the dark green jungle that extended behind Hange. They were settled too close to the fence and the rain was too thick for Levi to be concerned of any real threats beyond his line of sight.

He’d been in the wild long enough to know a thing or two about monsters.

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Hange called out over the rain, studying something on the ground and poking it with a metal rod. “You’re just pissed because you want the new trainer to turn his moves on you.”

“Hanje.” Levi lifted his head to stare at them over his rifle. “You know I could make your death look like an accident, right?”

They shook a plastic bag and stood up from their crouch, moving closer to Levi. “That won’t change the fact that I’m right.”

“No you’re not,” Levi said, dropping his rifle down and scowling. “But you are covered in mud. _Disgusting_.”

“I love it when you talk all sweet like that.”

Hange held out a muddy hand in Levi’s direction and he dodged, heading toward their jeep and pressing the electronic start. “Don’t even think about it.”

Once they were inside and out of the rain, Hange laughed and pulled out a towel from their backpack. The dashboard flooded to life, illuminating their face in a soft green light.

“What’s on the map?” Levi asked, shifting into first gear and stepping on the gas. His wet shirt clung to his arms and chest, making him feel uncomfortable in the vehicle's leather seat.

Hange was quiet for a moment as they flipped a few switches on the dash and stared at the moving dots spread across the map. “Looks like a few seven and five class species out, off the path.”

“Anything bigger? What about our girl?”

“Hmmm,” Hange said, moving their hand over the screen to widen its view. “Nothing, we’re clear.”

“We’ll ride the fence down to be safe,” Levi said, tightening his grip around the steering wheel. “Do you think you’ll find it in the samples?”

“I hope.” Hange pulled down the car phone and punched in the number for base. “It would help Erwin sleep at night if we made a breakthrough.”

“Erwin sleeps on a bed made out of money and the tears of his enemies,” Levi said, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. “Don’t worry about him.”

“Z team, this is WINGS returning to chopper,” Hange said into the receiver. “ETA five minutes for departure. Over.”

Lighting struck down over the horizon, illuminating the sharp lines of the fence as they drove by. “I don’t like this,” Levi muttered.

“It’s just a little rain,” Hange said from the passenger seat. “We’ve seen worse in monsoon season.”

Levi didn’t say anything. The sensors in the jeep were beeping, picking up in speed and pitch as they neared the clearing. “Just check the scanners again.”

Hange flipped through the dash screen with their fingertip, studying the schematics carefully. “Nothing.”

Levi relaxed as the jungle started to thin. He could just make out an outline of the black helicopter sitting in the clearing, but he’d feel better when they were in the air. “It’s too quiet,” Levi said as they pulled up. “We should have seen a few by now.”

“It’s pouring out,” Hange said. “All the good little dinos are staying out of trouble tonight.”

“Are you loaded?” Levi asked, switching gears.

“Of course.”

“Not those fucking tranqs, right?” he pushed. Hange didn’t say anything and he glanced over at them. “Oh come on, Hange, we talked about this.”

“What?” Hange said. “We can’t raise the dead and then point our guns at nature trying to survive. Not when we asked for it.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” Levi snapped. “And neither did you.”

“But we’re still here,” Hange responded. “And I’m not killing anything for trying to live, not if I can help it.”

Levi swerved into his parking spot next to the chopper a little sharper than necessary. “Those darts aren’t taking down anything with teeth.”

“Then let’s just hope we stay the course,” Hange said, snapping open a metal suitcase and pulling samples from their pockets to stash inside. “Besides, you won’t let anything happen to me.”

“I won’t always be here to protect you,” Levi muttered before swinging open his door. He pulled a handkerchief over his mouth and bent low to avoid the spinning blades of the helicopter.

“Do you think we missed feeding?” Hange asked once they were inside.

Levi pulled on a headset as the pilot pulled off the ground. “Z team this is WINGS. On chopper and returning to base. Over.”

Levi turned back to Hange and studied their face. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Why?”

Hange smiled at him, nudging him with their shoulder. “I heard lover boy was putting on a show today.”

“Not likely in this weather,” he said. “And I don’t care.”

Hange turned to look out the window but wouldn’t stop smiling. It was a short ride, they were in the air for no more than fifteen minutes. Levi could see the metal and concrete sheen of their base camp glowing in the darkness like a beacon. It had been his home for the past ten years, though it didn’t really feel like one most of the time.

They landed in the helicopter pad on the far end of the compound. Levi hopped out without waiting for Hange, hiking his rifle over his shoulder. He wanted to get out his wet clothes and take a hot shower before Erwin started asking for him.

To his annoyance, Hange kept up, nattering incessantly about their squad and dinner and the feeding. But as they passed the training quarters, Hange went silent. “Speaking of cowboys,” Hange whispered, elbowing Levi in the ribs and nodding their head in the direction of the building. “Check it out.”

Levi turned and spotted the youngest trainer in their field weaving through the soldiers lingering around base. He was tall, maybe as tall as Erwin, with brown hair and bronze skin.

He was relatively new to the base and had arrived about a month ago with the expedition crew from America that Erwin had hired. Levi didn’t trust the outsiders, hadn’t figured out their end game yet, and it made him nervous when he couldn’t tell what Erwin was thinking.

_Eren Jaeger._

Levi had pulled his file, but nothing really stood out. He’d yet to meet him in person, but he’d seen him in the mess hall and walking around base enough times to know that he had green eyes and gold military tags but not close enough to know what his voice sounded like.

His eyes traced his slim form as he sauntered through the doors of the training building. He didn’t look like much.

But he was the one who trained the raptors.

 


	2. Nothing to Lose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring Farlan, fist fights and scars - and oh yeah, Levi and Eren talk for the first time.

“So what exactly did Erwin say?” Farlan asked, siding up to Levi and grabbing a silver tray.

They were standing in line at the compound’s mess hall, which consisted of several rows of clinical looking metal tables and not much else. A cafeteria-style serving line ran the length of one side of the room.

After getting off the chopper with Hange, Levi hadn’t walked ten feet before Erwin had summoned him back to headquarters—a large control center located at the heart of their compound. He’d run into Farlan on his way back from inspecting a burnt out fence across the property, and the two had walked to the hall together.

Levi liked Farlan, liked his guts and his sharp tongue, and his quick thinking had gotten them out of more than one sticky situation—which was pretty important when the sticky situation usually involved sharp teeth.

“The usual,” Levi responded, scrutinizing the suspicious looking beef and vegetable entree cooling underneath dull heat lamps.

Farlan shook his head, and Levi dropped the serving spoon with a clang. “So, a whole lot of nothing.”

“Yep.” Loud laughter drew Levi’s attention, and he caught sight of the Americans standing in a group further up the line. His eyes found the brown-haired raptor trainer without really trying, and he made himself look away quickly.

“I don’t like this,” Farlan whispered and his icy eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the feeling that we have more than one wild card on our hands.”

“Wild, I can handle.” Levi paused to scoop rice onto his tray. “It’s the other side of things that makes me nervous.”

“Meaning?” Someone shouted ahead of them, and Levi looked up to see a few of the older men in Eren’s group getting rowdy.

“The human condition,” Levi said, shrugging his shoulders. “More dangerous than a T. rex any day of the week.”

Farlan plopped a roll onto his tray. “Erwin’s brought in companies before, but I don’t think he’s ever been so quiet.”

“How many of those companies had military backgrounds?” Levi asked sharply.

“I don’t know,” Farlan turned to face Levi. “But how much more deadly could this place really get?”

Levi moved his eyes up from his tray to look at Farlan. “Let’s hope we don’t find out.”

Farlan grimaced. “We aren’t usually that lucky.”

After a moment, Levi turned back to the serving line to grab a water bottle and watched Eren snatch four oranges from the fruit display. He quickly stashed them in his backpack before casting a stealthy look over his shoulder. Their eyes connected for a split second through the crowd.

Eren smirked.

And then he turned his back on Levi.

“Christ,” Levi muttered, slamming his tray on counter.

“Hey,” Farlan started. “Have you seen that new American chick?”

“What?”

“Works in the labs, red hair, about this tall,” Farlan gestured with his hands. “She wears her hair in braids and sometimes hangs out with the other cowboys.”

“Who?”

“Oh fucking forget it, you like dicks and dinos too much to care,” Faral muttered. “I don’t know why I even try.”

The jarring sound of metal trays hitting the ground erupted at the front of the line followed by loud shouting.

“What the hell?” Farlan muttered, craning his neck to see. The sound of flesh pounding flesh filled their ears, and they pushed their way through the crowd that had formed at the center of the room.

One of the shorter Americans had Eren pinned to the ground, jerking him up and down by his collar so that his head slammed into the concrete with sickening cracks.

As quick as lightning, there was a sudden flash of white before Eren sunk his teeth into his attacker’s forearm, hard and rough enough to draw blood. He used his attacker’s panic to grab and twist his wrist, leveraging the pain and twisting his legs until he gained enough momentum to push him facedown onto the concrete while he kneeled behind him.

Eren gripped the twisted wrist more tightly and placed enough pressure onto the shorter man’s shoulder to dislocate it. Levi was close enough to hear sharp grunts of pain and the sound of bones crunching together.

Eren had a strange smile on his face, and blood was dripping from his lips and coating his teeth.

“Hey!” a voice suddenly yelled from the back of the crowd.

After a moment, Mike's tall, impressive form suddenly pushed through the gathering to stand over Eren and his attacker.

“Are you insane?” He grabbed Eren by the back of his collar and pulled him roughly off the other man. “Save it for the fucking cages.”

Eren put his hands up in a placating gesture, and Levi saw that they were coated in dried blood.

“Levi,” Mike called when he spotted him.

“Oh, here we go,” Farlan muttered, throwing his hands up.

“You go,” Levi said, shoving a shoulder into Farlan.

“No way, man, Mike called you,” Farlan shook his head. “You know how riled up he gets with his stupid projects.”

“Fuck,” Levi said, when Mike called him over again. “Fuck you, Farlan.”

“Hey, you should be happy,” Farlan smirked. “Maybe raptor boy will fuck you if you ask nicely.”

Levi ignored him.

“Levi,” Mike said, once he got closer. “Take him to Erwin’s office.”

Levi shot him a look. “Come on, Mike.”

“Take him to Erwin,” Mike repeated, crossing his arms. “I’ll take care of the other shithead.”

Levi glared at Mike, but he could tell he wasn’t going to change his mind. “Fine. Let’s go, kid.”

When their gazes met, Eren’s eyes were flashing with a familiar viciousness. _Savage_ , he thought. He could see the word reflected in the depth of those green eyes, could hear it repeating in his mind again and again until it was pulsing hotly through his core.

Eren stood completely still and stared at Levi, studying him so intensely it was unsettling.

“I said, let’s go,” Levi repeated, gesturing for Eren to walk in front of him.

“Smart,” he said, in a voice like honey and iron as he walked by to stand in front of Levi. He wasn’t looking at him anymore, just staring straight ahead.

“Oh yeah?” Levi asked, crossing his arms and watching Eren carefully.

“You know not to turn your back on an animal.”

Levi threw his head back and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Eren asked sharply, his back still to Levi. He pulled his shirt up to wipe the blood still oozing from a cut on his forehead.

The movement exposed the bronze skin of Eren’s lower back and the tips of jarring, puckered scars.

“You work with monsters long enough you learn nothing’s more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose," Levi said.

The rest of the walk to Erwin's office was completely silent. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next - Levi and Farlan unravel a little more of the mystery, we spend some time in cages and oh yeah, raptors.
> 
> If you enjoyed, pleas leave a comment/kudos <3
> 
> Follow me on tumblr for all the madness: www.cinnamonskull.tumblr.com.


	3. The Pit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi gets pissed. Eren visits the raptors.

Levi’s back was to the wall facing Erwin’s office. It was too quiet, and Levi couldn’t entirely shake the eerie feeling he’d gotten while out in the field with Hange.

After Levi had marched him in, Erwin’s sharp eyes had taken one look at Eren’s bloody face, and he’d dropped the paperwork he’d been reading to stand and meet them at the door. He gestured with a steady hand at the open seat facing his desk, but he didn’t look shocked to see them.

Erwin never looked surprised.

Eren sat bone straight and glared at the map hanging on the wall behind Erwin’s desk, silent and fuming with his arms crossed over his chest. Even sitting down, he had a power radiating off his body, setting Levi’s nerves on edge.

Erwin cocked his head slightly when his icy gaze landed on Levi’s face, probably seeing more than Levi cared to share, but it couldn’t be helped. It didn’t ease the sting when Erwin slammed the door in his face without another word.

He strained his ears for fifteen minutes, but the silence was more telling than anything else.

So it was no surprise when Eren emerged half an hour later, a smirk plastered to his face. The dried blood caked onto his forehead and neck looked black against his dark skin.

His eyes narrowed in mean excitement when he spotted Levi. As he pushed through the main doors, his shoulder bumped Levi’s with enough force to make him grit his teeth in annoyance.

But he didn’t spare Levi another glance.

Curling his fingers into tight fists, Levi turned his attention back to Erwin. Eren was probably on his way back to his training facility, and it wouldn’t be good for Levi to dwell on the magnetic charge that ripped through his body with so little, careless contact.

Levi moved to stand in the archway of Erwin’s office to turn his glare on the older man.

“What do you want, Levi?” Erwin asked without looking up.

“To know what you’re up to,” Levi responded with more bite than he wanted, but nothing was going to reign in the pulsing rage bubbling beneath his skin like smoke.

Erwin brought his eyes up to appraise Levi’s scowling features. “Something got you riled up?”

Levi didn’t say anything, but his body tensed under Erwin’s careful stare. “Or _someone?”_

“Fuck it if I care what that savage does in his spare time,” Levi hissed, but he knew Erwin could spot the lies in his words even as he spoke them. “I want to know what’s going on, Erwin.”

“He’s very important to what we’re doing here,” Erwin said slowly, glancing down at the paperwork in his hands with a note of finality to his voice that Levi didn’t quite like.

“And just what are we doing here, Erwin?” Levi pushed, letting his anger get the best of him, despite knowing he’d have more luck trying to break a brick wall with his fist. “Do you even know?”

Erwin glanced at the clock resting on the wall above Levi’s head. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Levi ignored him. “They’ll tear this place up until there isn’t an ounce of humanity left.”

“We didn’t bring dinosaurs back from the dead to play it safe.”

“Say that again when you’re up to your neck in chaos,” Levi said, before turning on his heels sharply and slamming through the double doors.

When he made his way outside, it was raining again, heavy and hard against the thin material of his black t-shirt. His boots splashed in muddy puddles as he tried to convince himself that he wasn’t actually en route to the training the facility.

He willed himself away on the tail end of a hazy dream until he was standing in front of the cement pentagon, sharp barbed wire stacked on pale columns of cold stone. The blood in his veins was still pulsing hotly when he pushed open the doors to slide inside the dimly lit atrium.

_The pit._

The cowboys called it that, with sets of rusting bleachers circling a low, sandy arena surrounded by an inner wall of thick iron bars.

It was where the raptors were trained, but nothing but the sound of human flesh pounding into human flesh echoed off the walls at the moment.

At the center, two men were grappling, bare chested and wild, with blood caking into the sand like raindrops.

Levi's eyes didn't miss Eren’s impressive form, standing off to the side with his sharp smile and his strange eyes, watching the chaos unfold in front of him like he owned it.

Like it was a part of him.

The grunts and screams did little to unnerve Levi. He’d been surviving in this place longer than most people in the room, and a little human on human violence wasn’t unheard of or out of the ordinary. It was almost necessary, to leave a mark on someone else, make them bleed and bruise in a world where so, so much was out of their control.

Levi was smart enough to stay out of the pits, though. He found other….methods of relieving his stress.

“You want to go a round?” a voice said to Levi’s left, wry and sharp.

He turned to stare up into the tawny, calculating gaze of Jean Kirschstein. “What are you doing here, kid, I thought you were smarter than all this bullshit.”

Jean shrugged his shoulders, his eyes tracing the movements of the bodies at the center of the room. “It gets lonely, sometimes, you know. Being out here.”

“The pit isn’t going to solve your problems, Jean,” Levi responded, feeling something coil tight in his chest. “I thought I taught you better than that.”

Jean shot him a searching look, one that peeled back the layers of coldness and animosity to the parts of Levi that weren't easily seen by others. Maybe he taught him too well.

“You did,” Jean murmured, a breath of an answer as he turned his gaze back to the fighting. “But listening only gets a guy so far.”

Levi watched his gaze trace the movements of the tall freckled man currently winning the fight, slamming his fists into the face of some unrecognizable man.

“Oh no,” Levi said. “You don’t like one of those fucking American pieces of trash, do you?”

Jeans silence was all the answer that Levi needed. “Well, fuck me.”

Jean shot him an annoyed looked. “Gotta grow up at some point,” he said, licking his lips. “How many times can a guy take rejection before he decides to move on?”

His voice was light, warm even. But Levi didn’t miss the way it echoed with pain and longing. It was probably for the best, anyway.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” Levi said, though they both knew how short that list was in reality. His eyes were already focused on Eren’s retreating back, the way he slunk into the shadows as he crept deeper into the maze.

Toward the raptor cages.

Levi pushed through the crowd and grumbling men, until he could spot Eren’s lean form swiping an access card and pushing through a set of steel doors. At some point, he'd washed the dried blood from his features. 

It was quiet when he entered the holding cells, the iron vibrating with the malicious intent of its captives.

_Raptors._

Eren was nuzzling the nose of one of the creatures, palming the leathery skin like a cherished possession. It’s sharp eyes were dilated, fluttering and moving rapidly against its bind.

“You know,” Eren said, loud enough for Levi to hear, even though his back was facing him. “You’re very curious for someone who doesn’t give a fuck.”

“I don’t.” It was hard and soft enough for Eren to hear the catch in his throat. If he noticed, he didn’t comment.

“Want to feed her?”

“Excuse me?” Levi asked, his skin shivering at the soft tilt to Eren's voice.

“Here.” Eren tossed Levi a tangerine, bright and hard where it landed in his palm. He remembered the smirk Eren shot him over his shoulder in the cafeteria line.

Levi moved forward, cautiously, but not afraid, until his shoulder brushed up against Eren’s in a weird parody of their earlier encounter.

“Toss it to her,” Eren said, stroking the soft skin of the raptor’s throat. It was muzzled, straining against the leather straps, but its eyes twitched closed at the sound of Eren’s voice. “She’s been a good, _good_ girl.”

Levi did as he was told, watching the way the raptor's long tongue shot out to coax the tangerine into the sharp canines of its jaw. It screeched softly, eyeing Levi even as it swallowed the tangerine whole.

“What about you?” Levi asked, turning to stare at Eren.

“What about me?”

“Have you been good?” He asked, liking the way the words made Eren’s shoulders twitch. “Or have you been bad?”

“Depends who you’re asking,” Eren responded, not taking his eyes or hands way from the raptor in front of him. "It all depends, Levi."

 

 


	4. Code Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi visits Hange at the glass tower and meets Isabel Magnolia. Also - something is wrong at West Gate 89.

There was a soft whirling sound as the automatic metal doors opened in front of Levi and a blast of cool, clinical air hit his face. As lab technicians walked through the main floor, faces buried in metallic clipboards, all Levi could think was white, white and more white.

If there was one place Levi hated most on the island, it was the billion-dollar research facility settled at the center of their compound, a nest filled with tiny, buzzing leeches that tried to calculate and recreate the exact level of violence and chaos they could nurture without tipping the scale.

It wasn’t science, it was business. And there wasn’t anything Levi disliked more than barely concealed deceit.

Levi tracked his muddy boots across the pristine white floor as he made his way through the center of the lobby, veering off to the left and down a long glass hallway. Various lab rooms stretched out behind each side of him, and Levi could see heating lamps and scientists with white masks crowded around white tables.

He didn’t like walking through the hatcheries, but it was the most direct path to Hange’s lab. The sound of his rifle at his side clanking against the handgun on his belt made more than a few lab rats give him a strange look.

 _Good._ Let them look.

It had been more than a week since Hange and Levi had collected samples in the rainstorm, and the weather hadn’t let up much. It was concerning, a kind of shift in cosmic tides that didn’t rest well with Levi. He’d learned long ago that everything mattered at the edge of the earth, and restless energy was crackling in the air like the start of a bad dream. 

“Levi,” Hange chirped warmly upon his arrival, tilting their head up from their work long enough to shoot him a grin.

“Hange,” Levi ducked his chin in kind, as he cautiously approached. Hange was leaning over a microscope, and rows of labeled test tubes and petri dishes rested on each side of it.

“Trying to blow this place up again?”

“If you’re asking if I’m working on explosives, the answer is no,” Hange said in a dry voice, still not looking up from the slides in front of them. “It’s safe to approach the bench. For now, anyway.”

There was a bit of static as his radio blared to life in his back pocket. Levi tilted his ear, but it was just the sound of his team recording checkpoints. They were making the rounds, and Mike was leading this one.  

“What’s the latest, doc?” Levi asked, stepping closer to peer down at Hange, refocusing his attention on the reason for his visit to the stupid glass tower. 

“Still haven’t identified the source of our problem,” Hange huffed and hunched down closer to the microscope. “Whatever it is, it sure doesn’t want to be found.”

“Erwin will be thrilled to hear that.”

Behind Hange, there were three rows of steel tables, each set up with a different computers and various metal machines, some connected by clear test tubes and wires.

The walls on each side were lined with glass and steel cabinets, filled with glass beakers, dishes, various compounds and research files. At the end of the long room stood a sink and beyond that a set of double doors that led to a walk-in freezer. That’s where Hange kept their real work. 

“And our project?”

Hange did look up at that and quirked an eyebrow. “Status quo. But you know I don’t like it.”

Levi bent down to study the petri dishes lined up in front of Hange. “One day you’ll thank me.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Hange responded with a thick voice. “You have a nasty, annoying habit of always being right.”

Before Levi could respond, he heard a thud and the sound of breaking glass. When he straightened up a young girl with a shock of red hair was standing up with the shattered pieces of a beaker in her hands.

“Who is that?” 

“Who?” Hange asked, swapping out a glass slide for another and sighing into the barrel of the scope.

“The mini-me standing over there by the sink?” Levi pointed as Hange twisted in their seat to look. The girl was sweeping up the remains of the glass beaker with her back to them. 

“Ohhh,” Hange responded with a smile on their face. “That’s my girl. My new lab assistant.”

“What are they thinking setting someone like you loose on another person?” Levi said. “Must be getting more desperate than I thought.”

He watched her bend down and dump the glass shards into a recycle bin under the sink. When she turned to face them, Levi noticed her bright green eyes and braided hair. 

“You know the politics of this place better than I do,” Hange admonished. “If I want the board to fund my independent work, I’ve still got to do their asinine research projects. Ergo, Isabel Magnolia.”

“Hello,” she said, turning to face them for the first time at the sound of her name. She took quick, energetic strides in their direction until she was standing in front of them. “I’m Izzy. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Levi said, without extending his hand. “You American?”

“I came here with T.I.T.A.N., if that’s what you’re asking.” Izzy’s eyes were sharp and she had a matter-of-fact way about her that Levi instantly liked, despite her words.

T.I.T.A.N. Otherwise known as _Terrorism Intelligence and Threat Assessment Network._ Those idiots.

“And what are you doing here?” 

Izzy paused and pressed her lips into a thin line. “With Hange, I mean,” Levi clarified, to save them both an awkward conversation. No one came to Sina of their own free will and certainly not without lugging some heavy baggage.

“Genetics with a specialized concentration in mutations and abnormalities,” Izzy responded, sagging her shoulders in a way a less trained eye would miss. 

“Military background?”

“I know how to shoot a gun,” Izzy lips curved up into a smile as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “A pretty big one. Want to see?”

Levi grinned at her bravado. “Maybe next time, kiddo.”

He’d get her story eventually, he always did, but he could already tell why Farlan was so taken with her.

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged her shoulders, but there was a brightness to her eyes as she surveyed Levi. “Hange, I’ll be finishing up inventory out back if you need me.”

Hange waved her off and watched her retreating figure a moment before snapping back to business. 

“So you’re keeping the enemy close, I see.” 

“Don’t be like that, Levi,” Hange murmured, turning back to their work. “You’re not doing anyone any favors by being so suspicious.”

“I’m the one who should be calling in debts,” Levi said, wrapping his finger around the barrel of his gun. “Maybe it’s time I sent a few reminders.”

Hange clicked their tongue. “Men and their egos.”

“Speaking of egos,” Levi said, giving Hange a sideways look. “What do you know about the Americans?” 

“You mean Jaeger?” Hange smiled slyly.

“Him, and the rest of them,” Levi growled, feeling his neck flush at his obviousness. “Has Izzy been telling you anything? What are they doing here?” 

“Nothing more than what you’ve already heard—whispers about setting up a park, but you know how that goes.” 

“A park?” Levi’s ears perked up. “Again?”

“I wouldn’t read much into it,” Hange said, swapping out another slide and catching the look on Levi’s face. “Erwin isn’t stupid.”

“It’s not Erwin I’m worried about.”

Just then, the doors across from Hange’s lab slid open, revealing Erwin and a man dressed up in an expensive, dark suit through the glass. He was tall but shorter and slimmer than Erwin with a goatee and sleeked black hair. He was holding a briefcase in one hand and talking quietly into a cell phone.

Wisely, Erwin lead him down the hall, away from Levi and Hange.

“Looks like he’s getting his money,” Levi sighed.

“So, what’s your next move?” Hange asked, biting their lips. They knew the answer, but Hange wouldn’t be Hange if they didn’t ask.

“I’ll be making my rounds,” and there was a threat to his voice Hange couldn’t miss. 

“You might not like where you end up.” Hange snapped off a glove and tossed it in a bin under the table.

Levi’s radio jumped to life at his hip with a sudden click, interrupting their conversation. “This is Z team, we have a code red on West Gate 89. Repeat this is a code red.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Levi hissed, turning away from Hange with a look. West Gate 89 – that was the worst kind of news.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Jean and Eren next chapter. And maybe a little Marco. Oh yeah, and a little dinosaur action. How excited are you?


	5. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and team deal with code red at West Gate 89. Questions are raised and something sinister is brewing--something that has little to do with the dinosaurs prowling the perimeter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you thought you saw the last of me....

It was still savagely storming out as Levi made his way across the compound in his Jeep. Mike sat next to him, tense and quiet — he’d found him loitering in the hall outside Hange’s lab and recruited him to help sort out their current dinosaur-sized mess.

Levi shifted gears and slammed on the gas, urging the car forward faster and navigating the unsteady terrain with the well-practiced ease of someone who had spent countless hours roaming the paths between fences. All the while, the rain poured on, drenching everything and creating an ominous atmosphere that made Levi’s skin crawl under his parka.

“Has the field team been notified?” Levi asked, flicking on his four-wheel drive and shifting down a gear as they swerved up a steep path through wet greenery. The only way to get to West Gate 89 was to take a jungle path parallel to the compound for several miles.

“Jean is out there with Reiner,” Mike replied, eyes on the darkening sky. “Radio signal keeps fading in and out, so we don’t have a status update on the situation.”

“Fucking monsoon.” The Jeep’s wipers could barely keep up with the torrential downpour, and Levi’s wheels kicked up gravel and mud at every turn. “Fuck,” he cursed, gripping the wheel. _“Come on.”_

Mike grabbed Levi’s radio from the consul. “Z Team, what is your status?” 

Levi’s radio clicked and then loud static filled the interior of the Jeep. Mike and Levi exchanged worried glances.

“Repeat, Z Team, come in.”

The same, ominous white noise continued, and Levi pressed his foot down on the gas pedal, ignoring the way his Jeep slipped through the slick terrain. “Fuck.” He pulled his satellite phone from his holster and dialed back to Petra, who was stationed at the base’s control center. “This is Ackerman. Are we secure?”

He could almost hear Petra’s smile through the phone. “You think I’m an amateur, Levi?” she asked in a playful tone. “Line is secure.”

Despite the situation, Levi couldn’t help but smile weakly, and Mike glanced at him through his soaked fringe. “We have a code red situation on West Gate 89. I need eyes on top.”

“Copy that,” Petra’s calm and professional voice filled the car — there was a reason he had called her first, after all. “Kirschtein called in fifteen minutes ago, choppers are on their way.”

Levi breathed in a sigh of relief. As least he could trust Jean to handle things on the ground in the meantime. “Thanks, Ral. Double L?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line that Levi didn’t like. “Smith called off the guns," Petra answered reluctantly.

“What?” Levi hissed. “You know better than I do base protocol! Justified use of lethal force in the case of gate breaches higher than level 75.”

“I know what protocol says,” Petra replied tersely. “But I can’t ignore direct orders from Smith, not even for you.”

Levi clenched his jaw. “Let me worry about Smith. Call if you hear anything.”

“Be careful, Levi,” Petra responded before cutting the line.

“Who’s pocket is he trying to protect now?” Levi swore again, and glanced at Mike. “He better hope there aren’t any casualties.”

Mike’s face was grim, painted a sickly blue from the car's dashboard. “Something doesn’t feel right here,” he said. Levi didn’t like that he could hear the anxiety in Mike’s voice — Mike, who didn’t scare easy and never said five words when two would do.

A flash of lightning obscured Levi’s view momentarily as they approached territory 89 — big country, as Levi liked to call it. For a frightening moment, his vision was obscured by blinding white light. When it was over, it was so dark that even the car’s high beams couldn’t properly light the scene unfolding in front of them.

However, one thing was made abundantly clear to Levi — something had snapped the wire fencing between the metal posts. The slack metal pieces were scattered uselessly on the ground like shorn ribbon, leaving one section of the fence completely wide open and unprotected.

Nothing was keeping the monster inside from leaving.

“Here,” Mike said, pulling out two flashlights from under the seat and handing one over to Levi. They both clipped the flashlights to their jackets and slid from the car.

The sound of rain pouring around them was the first thing that Levi heard upon leaving the car. It was thick and unrelenting, with huge gusts of wind pelting rain so powerfully that Levi found himself instantly soaked through to his shirt and socks.

The second sound Levi heard was a high-pitched wailing.

“Is that what I think it is?” Mike shouted, turning back to Levi in disbelief. 

There was a flurry of movement as their team scrambled to secure a perimeter in near darkness, and Levi tried to assess the situation as best he could, given the conditions. Several people were standing guard near the fence while another group was stationed further away from the breach, grouped on the ground in a semi circle.

Levi’s stomach clenched.

“I guess we’re going to find out,” Levi yelled, so Mike could hear over the gale. “I need to check on the fence and make sure we’re covered there. Can you handle… _that?”_

Mike’s head was tilted up like he smelt something bad in the air. “Watch your back, Levi.”

Levi was already running, his boots sliding in the mud and his flashlight shaking at his hip with every uneven step. A sudden, flaring red light caught his attention. Someone had started setting up several flares near the wreckage.

“Stop!” he shouted at a young ranger he didn’t recognize. “Are you trying to attract every predator within fifty miles?”

The kid stood frozen, looking at him with big eyes and shaking hands. Levi knocked the flare out of his grip and stomped out the flame. “Get these things buried in the mud, now.”

Levi was too preoccupied with trying to salvage the situation to worry about hurting the kid’s feelings. Something in his tone sprung the young soldier into action, and Levi watched him start dousing the flames with a white face. Satisfied, Levi turned back to the fence to survey the damage.

Even with his back turned, he could still hear the high-pitched wailing. The sound vibrated down to his bones, and it set the hairs standing on the back of his neck. He trusted Mike to handle it though — he had protocol to follow and a fence to repair.

Now that he was closer, he could see Jean’s tall head bent over, shouting orders with his satellite phone pressed to his lips. The wind had picked up, and it was too loud for Levi to call out to Jean, so he walked closer and grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. “Are we live here?”

“Oh, thank god, Levi.” A look of pure relief crossed Jean’s face when he recognized Levi, and he pulled his phone down to give him a wild grin. “Power’s been pulled, Farlan is working on rebooting the system from the master grid, once we get new lines up.”

“We need Connie up here with wire right now,” Levi said, kicking a cord that had fallen nearby with his boot.

Jean wiped mud from his face and nodded. “Connie’s on his way back from power station 12 with new wires.”

“He better get back here quick,” Levi said. “You think Mommy hasn’t noticed?”

Jean glanced over his shoulder at the group of people crouched together with a sharp glare. “Oh, she’s noticed.”

Levi’s brain wasn’t ready to process that information just yet — he had a fence to secure first. “And how the fuck did this hole get here?”

He knew the electric fence at West Gate 89 had just been tested the previous week. They had routines, systems in place, to avoid situations like this. Unless they had a T. Rex on the loose…

“We’re not sure yet.” Jean glanced down at the laminated electrical map in hands. “It wasn’t a dinosaur.”

“And how do you know?” Levi asked, cocking his head at the snapped wires.

Jean inclined his head and gestured for Levi to follow him. He crouched down at the cement base of the fence, and pulled up a snapped cable in his gloved hands. “Cuts are too even.” He held it out carefully for Levi to inspect.

The silver, wiry cables were several inches thick and sliced perfectly, like someone had taken a pair of industrial scissors and snipped them as easily as thread. If they didn’t have a T. Rex on the loose…then the entire situation didn’t make sense.

“Did we check the camera feed?” Levi asked, reaching down with a gloved hand to feel the smooth ends of the sliced cable.

“It’s on loop from two hours ago.” Jean gave him a tense look. “Who ever did this didn’t want anyone to find out about it.”

“That’s impossible,” Levi echoed hollowly. “They would have had to hack into the main system in order to rig the video feed like that.”

Jean shrugged and stood up, rubbing his gloves on his thighs. “Impossible is relative when you live out here, you know that, Levi.”

“Fuck,” Levi hissed, running his hands through his hair. “I want Ral on this when we get back.”

Jean nodded and pressed a button on his phone. “Connie, where are you with that wire?”

“T-minus ten, boss,” Connie’s voice crackled through the phone.

Levi looked back to the group where the screaming had increased in pitch. “Better make it five.”

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing with that?” Jean shouted, waving his arms at one of his subordinates. “Fuck, hold on Levi, I have to deal with this.”

When Jean walked away, Levi spotted Reiner standing guard near the edge, his eyes down and focused on the steep cement moat to deter the animals from crossing. “Reiner.”

“Yes, sir?” Reiner pulled his eyes from his scope long enough to stare down at Levi.

“I want you up on the high hide,” Levi ordered. “First sign of skin, you shoot, okay?”

“Roger,” Reiner said with a wink, sliding his gun behind his shoulder. “It would be my pleasure.”

“Try not to jerk off until after we get out of here, okay?” Levi said, running his hands thorough hair again to stop the wet strands from blocking his vision.

Reiner gave him a lazy salute and started heading for the closest high hide. They had them stationed every click or so, sometimes closer near the higher gates, like this one. One thing seemed to be working in their favor -- the wind had died down a bit, and although it was still raining heavily, it was easier to hear. 

“Kirschtein, get over here,” Levi called, and Jean tucked his phone into his back pocket and jogged over to Levi.

“He almost got his leg bit off, the fucking idiot,” Jean muttered in his ear, shaking his head.

“Who? Reiner?” Levi glanced back at Reiner’s retreating figure.

“He kept saying, ‘it’s just a baby,’ over and over,” Jean continued, ignoring Levi’s question.

For the first time, Levi noticed how incredibly pale Jean’s face was under his wet, matted hair. “Jaeger lunged in front of Reiner’s gun, the fucking animal — nearly got himself shot.”

“Jaeger’s out here?” Levi asked, trying to process.

Jean scoffed, wiping more mud from his cheek, but it did little to help. “Ymir’s going to set the whole goddamn place on fire when she hears that Reiner unloaded one of those silver tranqs into the ground.”

Two helicopters sounded overhead, shining spotlights and lighting up the scene in the front of Levi for the first time. “A baby?” Levi echoed quietly. “That thing?”

“Connie’s here,” Jean said quickly, turning his head at the flash of headlights near the fence. “Wish me luck.”

“Fuck luck, just get that fence back up,” Levi said, shoving Jean’s shoulder.

When Jean left to unload the wire with Connie, Levi walked closer to the group of people huddled around what appeared to be a wailing, baby T. Rex.

“We need to shut that thing up now,” Levi said. “Do you understand the situation we’re in?”

At the center of the circle, Eren’s head snapped up from where he was rubbing something into the infant’s skin. “Tranqs are too powerful for him right now, you’ll kill him.”

“Where’s the medical team?” Levi asked, addressing his question to Mike and ignoring Eren.

“West bridge is flooded, they’re taking backroads through East and looping around,” Mike answered.

“We don’t have time to wait for that,” Levi said. Several people were scattered in the mud, trying unsuccessfully to hold the thrashing infant still.

Eren shot Levi a glare and flashed his teeth in annoyance. Levi could see that there was blood all over his hands and down the front of his shirt, and the rest of his body was impossibly caked with mud.

Levi cursed again and started unbuckling his belt. “Get this around that thing’s muzzle, we can’t afford to wait any longer.”

Mike took the belt from him wordlessly, grabbing the dinosaur’s jaws in his large hands and wrapping the leather around to silence its screams. It thrashed about for several minutes, fighting to free itself from Mike’s grip, but it was too disoriented to win.

Levi watched Eren purse his lips and tilt his head back down to the animal’s chest, while his other hand rubbed soothing circles up and down its neck.

“Mike, give me your belt,” Levi said, moving to get closer to the dinosaur’s powerful legs. The taller man quickly removed his belt and handed it over.

Levi pressed his weight onto the dinosaurs kicking legs, wrapping Mike’s longer belt around its ankles and tightening until the movement stilled.

When the thing calmed down, Eren’s hands didn’t shake as he continued to sew up a large gash down the side of its chest. Blood bubbled up and stained his gloves as he threaded a curved needle through the thick skin. He was halfway through before Levi’s phone began ringing at his hip.

“Hold him here,” he said to one of the other rangers before he stood up and pulled away from the circle. “What?”

“The roads are flooding, I’d say you have half and hour to get what you need done before you’re trapped out there,” Petra said quickly.

Levi turned back to survey the fence. Connie and Jean had several lines hooked up between the posts, but there weren’t nearly halfway done. “Tell me some good news, would you?”

“I heard Jaeger has a thing for short—” Levi disconnected the line with a growl. “Kirschtein,” Levi called out, running back over to the fence.

“A little busy, Levi,” Jean said, scaling the unbroken fence next to the opening and yanking along new hardware. “Fences to mend and people to save, you know.”

“The roads are flooding, you’ve got less than half and hour to get us back up and running,” Levi called up, and then smirked as Jean nearly dropped a line. “No pressure.”

 _“No pressure,”_ Jean mimicked with a scowl, tossing the wiring over to Connie, who was perched against an adjacent metal post and looping the ends of the wire into receivers. Once Farlan restored the voltage, there would be a complete circuit for the electricity to flow through.

Levi heard a high-pitched whistling and turned back to see Reiner signaling at him from the high hide. He pulled out his phone and dialed his number. “What now?”

“Sweetheart’s getting restless, I can see movement 10 clicks to the West,” Reiner purred through the phone. “I called it in to the choppers and you know what they said?”

“No lethal ammo,” Levi answered, bitterly.

“No lethal ammo,” Reiner whistled. “Imagine that, boss.”

“Stay on her, Reiner,” Levi ordered. “We’re out of here in twenty, before our girl’s any the wiser.”

“Righto,” Reiner said, before clicking off.

“Jean, stop trying to look pretty and get this fucking wire rigged,” Levi called back up to his partner.

“What the hell do you think I’m doing?” Jean yelled down. “Go fuck a dinosaur, Levi.”

“Hey, hey, don’t call Jaeger a dinosaur he doesn’t like it,” Connie quipped, tightening metal clamps around the new wires with a wrench.

“Close enough,” Jean shrugged, grinning down at Levi. “Anything else you want while we’re up here, princess? Whiskey? Freshly baked cookies?”

“Oh, Jean do you have any weed? I could go for a good smoke, right now,” Connie said, sliding down to the next level.

“You want me to light a match in this weather?” Jean grunted, carrying up a new set of wire wrapped around his shoulders.

“I thought I saw some flares,” Connie joked. “Levi, grab us a few, huh?”

“Go to Hell,” Levi said, turning back to the group gathered around the T. Rex and ignoring their snickering. There wasn’t anything to do when Connie and Jean got like this. But who could blame them for trying to make light of the situation?

Levi and a team would have to come back tomorrow when the rain cleared to lace up the spaces in between the horizontal wiring, but it would hold for the night.

When Levi got back to Mike, Eren was rubbing antibiotic ointment to the closed up wound. “They’re almost done with the fence, we need to start packing up.”

“Call one of the choppers down, we have to get her back in the enclosure,” Eren spoke up before Mike could answer.

“Her?” Levi asked.

Eren clenched his jaw. “We can’t drop her down onto the cement walls, not like this. Chopper’s the only way.”

A quick glance at Mike and Levi knew there wasn’t another option, unless they wanted to take the baby back to the medical facility for overnight observation. With things the way they were, there was no telling how long the roads might be out of service, and Levi didn’t want to think about how angry its mother was going to be when she couldn’t smell her baby anymore.

“All right, but we do this now,” Levi snapped. “Mike, call in one of the choppers for landing, and then make sure Jean and Connie get that fence finished.”

Levi turned back to Eren. “We get in and then we get out, understood?”

Eren nodded, but he wasn’t looking at Levi. He was stroking the young dinosaur’s face, beneath its eye.

“Mike, get the others to help with the fence,” Levi said. “The roads are flooding and you’re going to get trapped out here.”

Mike nodded his head, directing the others who had been holding the dinosaur down to help Jean and Connie. “See you back at base.”

“Yeah,” Levi said, shaking his head. "See you."

When the helicopter landed, Eren cradled the dinosaur to his chest, and Levi held on to the tail to keep it from thrashing and opening up the stitches.

They both ducked under the blades and climbed in, sliding the baby onto a tarp and pinning it down with their bodies so it couldn’t knock them around. It felt uncomfortable crouching in wet clothes, but it was nice to be out of the downpour, even for a few minutes.

“What happened?” Levi asked, grunting a little as it tried to kick him in the ribs. The helicopter ride was bumpy from the storm and navigating down into the T. Rex’s paddock.

Eren looked up and glared at Levi. “Someone put her up here and left her to die.”

Levi turned his face away. “Any idea who would do that?”

Eren was silent long enough for Levi to think he wasn’t going to answer. “I have a pretty good idea.”

“Same person who cut the fence, right?” Levi asked, and he could see the surprise etched on Eren’s face.

The helicopter landed then, rough and bumpy, and Levi gestured for Eren to hold his position while he checked the area for any signs of the T. Rex.

When he didn’t see anything (or feel vibrations from a T. Rex crashing through), he gestured for Eren to start pulling the baby from the helicopter. They walked a good distance from the chopper and settled the baby on the tarp.

Eren checked over the stitches once more and then pulled back it’s eyelid, shining a small flashlight and watching its pupil respond.

“We’re going to need to come back and check on the stitches tomorrow,” Eren said. “I’m not a medic, but these should hold through the night.”

“Let’s worry about tomorrow when it’s tomorrow,” Levi responded, shifting so he was closer to the dinosaur’s legs. “Now, when I pull this off, you get the belt off its mouth and we haul ass back, okay?”

“Okay,” Eren said and a determined looked crossed his face. “One, two—”

“Three,” Levi said, yanking off the belt and then pushing Eren in front of him, pulling him back towards the chopper. The baby snapped at them as they made their escape, nearly nabbing Eren on the ankle when he slipped in the mud.

“Keep going,” Levi hissed, yanking Eren by the back of the collar. They both slipped a few more times before they made it back to the helicopter, and Levi slammed the door shut for good measure.

A quick glance outside showed the young dinosaur making its way back into the jungle, and Levi breathed a sigh of relief. “Get us back to base,” he said, pounding on the helicopter's roof.

Once they were airborne again, Levi saw that the fence was back in tact and that the Jeeps were gone, meaning his team had succeeded in hooking up the electricity and retreating back to base camp.

He couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh. Call it adrenaline or realization that they’d managed to save the park without any injuries, but Levi couldn’t stop laughing.

When he glanced back at Eren, he was smiling too.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry my precious raptor squad!! I knew this chapter was going to be all action and guess what? I hate writing action - mostly because I suck. So, I hope this was bearable and exciting and not weird. God, is it weird??
> 
> Anyway - I feel like I've got my groove back for this fic, so the next update might come right after Thanksgiving. Leave some love in the form of comments and kudos - or else the raptor squad will be after you. : )


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